title: Measuring membrane voltage with fluorescent proteins.
abstract: Measuring signal transduction in large numbers of cells with high spatial and temporal resolution is fundamental to studying information processing in the nervous system. DNA-encoded sensors have an advantage in that they can be introduced into an organism noninvasively and targeted to specific brain regions, cell types, or subcellular compartments. A variety of chimeric proteins that report transmembrane voltage have been developed. The prototype sensor, FlaSh, is a green fluorescent protein fused to a voltage-sensitive K(+) channel, where voltage-dependent rearrangements in the channel induce changes in the protein's fluorescence. Subsequent sensors have refined this basic design using a monomeric voltage-sensing phosphatase domain from Ciona intestinalis and pairs of fluorescent proteins to produce a larger fluorescent signal. These sensors and their uses are discussed here.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patti
authors.forename: Ehud Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Isacoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000235:genetics; D005453:Fluorescence; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D008566:Membranes / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins